The first Flint water crisis occurred in 1836, but not in Flint, Michigan. No, the first Flint water crisis took place in Washerst, PA (the birthplace of America's greatest poet, Emmett Lee Dickinson, Emily Dickinson's third cousin, twice removed -- at her request) when Mayor Rick Snider allowed paint dumping in Flint Reservoir, the main water source for the town of Washerst.

Flint Reservoir was named after the town founder Aloizy Wasniewski's trusty dog Flint. Legend has it that Wasniewski threw the carcass of the dog in the lake after his beloved pet died from demodectic mange (for more information about the town of Washerst, click HERE).

Year's later, Mayor Rick Snider (pictured at the left) approved the dumping of left-over paint, turpentine and cleaners in the reservoir. Within two years of Snider's decision, the lake caught fire -- plus the local media reported about substantial increases in the amount of lead in the water. They also reported a considerable upsurge in the admissions of minors at the Pennsylvania State Lunatic Asylum and Children's Sanatorium which overlooked Flint Reservoir.

Below: The Pennsylvania State Lunatic Asylum and Children's Sanatorium on the banks of Flint Reservoir in historic Washerst, Pennsylvania.

Below: Flint Reservoir shortly after reservoir caught fire. It took the Washerst Volunteer Fire Department three weeks to put the fire out.

Emmett Lee Dickinson was incensed by the Mayor's harmful decisions and callous management of the crisis, and he wrote his now-classic poem, "I cannot drink it, Rick" (below on the left). Dickinson's poem inspired public outcry and demonstrations that led to the resignation of Mayor Snider. Dickinson's poem also inspired third cousin Emily to write her poem, "I could not drink it, Sweet" (below on the right).

By Emmett Lee Dickinson:

I cannot drink it, Rick,Until you taste it first,And since the Water’s full of leadI Think we’ll die of Thirst

By Emily Dickinson:

I could not drink it, Sweet,Till you had tasted first,Though cooler than the Water wasThe Thoughtfulness of Thirst.

Below: A blackout poem based on the current Flint water crisis in Flint, Michigan. The poem -- fashioned from an article in the Detroit Free Press -- is Samuel Taylor Coleridge's famous line, "Water, water everywhere, and not a drop to drink." We posted a similar blackout poem after Hurricane Katrina, and thought it appropriate to repeat the poem now. For more of our Blackout Poems, click HERE.